PORT ORCHARD, WA—Port Orchard Football Club beat Bellevue Athletic 5-3 on Friday July 28 at Washington Premier Soccer Complex in Puyallup to advance to the 2023 Cascadia Premier League 2 Championship match.
PRESS: The playoff win was covered by Jeff Graham for the Kitsap Sun.
POFC bolted out to a 4-0 lead before having to hold on after halftime as BAFC desperately tried to get back in the match. In the end the two-goal triumph puts Port Orchard up against Nido Aguila Club America Seattle on Sunday July 30 at 3 PM in the title match. The championship will be played on the turf field at WPFC which also has aluminum bleached (no roof, no seat backs.)
Proud Pat
Coming off of a 10-0-0 regular season there might have been a feeling of pressure to perform. It never materialized. “I’m really proud of the players. I’m grateful that we were able to keep the momentum from our regular season performances going into that first postseason game,” says Head Coach Pat Leonard.
GOAL HIGHLIGHTS: The embedded video below shows all 5 POFC goals
A Sideline Of Support
A crowd nearing 200 bunched up along the sidelines to cheer for Port Orchard. They celebrated the team win and then moved over to the nearby field where the other CPL2 semifinal was in overtime. That match ended in a 4-4 draw but Nido Aguila advanced to Sunday on penalty kicks, ousting Pacific Division side Steel United. POFC swept Steel United in two matches this season. Port Orchard’s only loss was a pre-season friendly back on April 30 at South Kitsap High School against the club they will face for a trophy on Sunday.
FACEBOOK GALLERY: Photos by Jesse MacKenzie
FACEBOOK GALLERY: Fans Take In The Playoffs Experience
Connor Louden and Michael Divano had braces for POFC. It was centerback Aidan Harvey who got his team on the scoresheet first though. The high-scoring defender got his 5th goal of the season just five minutes in when he connected with a corner kick from Louden.
Connor Louden sent a rocket into the back of the BAFC net at ten minutes to make it 2-0. In the 17th minute POFC was up 3-0 on a perfectly placed and paced Divano free kick. Ten minutes later is was Louden’s turn to gather, make a move and roll one past the Bellevue defense to make it 4-0.
BAFC got one back just before halftime and another just after the start of the second half and it was 4-2 before Divano scored his second in the 56th minute to relieve some pressure.
Bellevue were awarded and converted a penalty kick at 75 minutes setting up a bit of a nervy finish in which they also hit the crossbar. In the end Port Orchard held for a 5-3 win to send the new club to its first Final in its very first season.
Sunday Comes Quickly
“It was nice to enjoy it (the semifinal win), but to be honest I enjoyed it for about five minutes before we started watching the end of the Steel United/Nido game. Then, it all becomes thoughts about Sunday,” admits Head Coach Leonard.
“The team will be ready to go, and we will have to be to beat a very strong Nido side. I’m grateful that we could give the support, the sponsors, and the volunteers behind the scenes the opportunity to watch us compete for a championship. They deserve it.”
Full Match replay from DavveSPN below.
